The paper should use quotes from Stone Butch Blues to support claims and should reference course concepts from Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture 11th ed. by JT Wood. PAPER GUIDELINES
Once you’ve finished reading your book and gathering insights from participating in book club, it’s time to write about your book more extensively. This is not a book report or a summary of your book: rather, this is a way for you to reflect on our class, the material we’ve covered, and the discussions we’ve had through the medium of your book. Thus, your essay should be a critical analysis of recurring themes that tie into course material. For something to be labeled a theme, it must come up several times in your text. As such, I would imagine you would only be able to analyze 2-3 themes in a paper of this length. You may examine any of the relevant themes, concepts, and/or ideologies covered in the course, but you must also find ways to add to our understanding of the material. In other words, you are not just repeating material from class; this is not simply an informative essay: you need to make a clear claim or argument about the contents of your book as it relates to course materials. Assuming your essay is five pages in length, your argument should most likely be stated within the first page or so (at the close of your introduction).
o Format: APA style—double spaced (except your name and course info—keep that single spaced), Times New Roman 12 point font, one-inch margins (no cover page or abstract needed).
o Length: at least five full pages (can be longer, but no shorter).
o Course concepts: you should incorporate multiple course concepts in your essay and
bold them. Some of your themes may themselves be course concepts (e.g., you may have a theme labeled “hegemonic masculinity”), but regardless you should be using a healthy number of concepts from class throughout your essay.
o Writing style: your paper should flow logically with minimal to no grammatical or syntactical errors. You should begin with a broad introduction that leads directly into your argument, transition into the analysis of your themes, and transition into a conclusion that brings your essay full circle.
o Rule of thumb: in your analysis (the body of your essay), a general rule is to define the theme, provide a quote or paraphrased section of your book that demonstrates the theme, then write at least two sentences of commentary/analysis after the quote/paraphrase that show how the example you chose is indicative of the theme. For each theme, you will need to do this several times to show that it is indeed a recurring theme.
